


An Escape Turned Prison

by aj_linguistik



Category: Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga), ソードアート・オンライン - 川原礫 | Sword Art Online - Kawahara Reki
Genre: Canon Rewrite, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Gender Dysphoria, OC is a self-insert of the giftee, Trans Female Character, request
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:14:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24288751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aj_linguistik/pseuds/aj_linguistik
Summary: Nagi delighted in the VR world. It was finally a place where she could free herself from the dysphoria that weighed her down in the real world. This new full-dive game, Sword Art Online, was somewhere she could escape to when the day was over and she just needed to be herself. But her escape from reality has become permanent. And her peace has been taken away. Will she be able to refind what she's looking for despite it being taken away from her?
Relationships: Yuuki Asuna | Asuna/Original Character(s)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 14





	1. Reflection

**Author's Note:**

  * For [YinSerpent](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=YinSerpent).



> A/N: Let's start with- I don't typically do reader-inserts. This is a single exception request that I took up before I made the announcement, just to be clear. The person who requested it is appreciative of the work I have put in and I apologize to her a lot because writing prominent OCs that take the place of the main cast is very difficult for me. I wasn't originally going to post it, but I think this is the best way to hold myself accountable to it. 
> 
> The OC Nagi is not my own. She belongs to YinSerpent.

Something truly beautiful was born from the emergence of fulldive technology. Not the highly anticipated VRMMO Sword Art Online itself, though--the ability to reimagine oneself with a different look without changing anything to one’s actual body. It was a simple use for some; they could change their hair or try on an outfit in a fantasy setting using the game. They could change their eye color, their height, and their weight. This kind of self-recreation proved to be a pleasure to the ten thousand players logging into SAO on November 22. 

But none, perhaps, so much as Nagi. When applied to awkward teenagers or middle-aged persons who just wanted a slight change of look, the character creation phase was simply a small enjoyment. However, in Nagi’s hands, this was the chance to rid herself of dysphoria. Her avatar, the same one she’d used in the beta test, wasn’t required to be set as her biological sex. With joy, she’d finally created and been able to test the game in a female avatar. It was freeing. 

Purple, of course. It was a vibrant, lovely color in this system. She’d been able to give herself long purple hair and matching starter armor as well. As she’d progressed through the beta, she’d discovered that armor pieces could be dyed with the right amount of col to purchase the various dyes in shops. Naturally, she’d always made sure she had enough to keep her armor matching. Her eyes, though, she’d made a brilliant ruby, which matched her purple tones quite well, if she did say so herself. 

As she logged in when the game came online, she stopped in front of a window and smiled at herself. The now-familiar face of her avatar smiled back at her. Now, she was ready to take on Aincrad. She turned on her heel and sped off in the direction of the town exit, intent on getting a head start before too many people dove in and started to farm up the first floor. The comforting sound of BGM filled her ears, a welcome substitute for her headphones back in the real world. 

Grinning, she hurried off in the direction of the first quest she wanted to tackle: a small quest that would earn her a fairly valuable sword in the next town over. She’d be able to fight some of the monsters between the Town of Beginnings and Horunka in order to earn some experience points and col before she got there. With this plan in mind, she sped ahead, her goal clear as day in her mind. 

“Hey, hold up!”

She stopped in her tracks and turned to look over her shoulder. A young man with red hair was running after her, waving his hand. She wasn’t familiar with this face from the beta test, but she couldn’t be too sure that it was a new player just yet. Nagi smiled at the man and waved. 

“Sorry to bother you,” he said, “but you seem to know your way around here and I thought you might be one of the beta testers. Could you possibly spare me a few tips? I promise I’ll make it up to you later!”

His smile was so earnest that she couldn’t possibly refuse. 

“My name’s Nagi,” she said. “I don’t mind showing you the ropes!”

The man’s grin got a little brighter. 

“Thanks a lot! The name’s Klein!” 

It was best to try and show him how to play by taking him out into a field area with a lower monster pop rate. He didn’t seem to really get the mechanics of fighting in VR just yet. It would take him some time. There was a distinct difference between just hacking and slashing at something and actually activating sword skills; she did her best to try and show him the difference. He wouldn’t get it in just a short tutorial from a beta tester, of course. Klein would need to practice on his own to ensure he got the hang of VR combat. 

“This really is amazing, though,” he said, pausing the lesson. “We’ve been here for about three hours and I still can’t wrap my mind around the fact that this is a virtual world. It looks and feels so real.”

Nagi nodded, laughing. 

“It’s amazing technology,” she agreed. “But you’re right, it’s gotten late. I’d like to get some grinding and a few quests done before I log out. I have school in the morning. Can’t stay up too late, you know!”

Klein perked up. 

“Ah, that’s right! I should log out!” he said. “I’ve got a pizza to be delivered in just a short bit! Then I’ll get back on when my friends log on later. If you want, we can meet up again! They’re a rowdy bunch, but they’re a lot of fun once you get to know them.”

She bit her lip. 

“I-I’ll consider it,” she said. 

He waved his hands at her dismissively. 

“No pressure or anything,” he insisted. “If you’re not comfortable, then it’s totally fine. We can do introductions when you’re more comfortable. Ah, well. Thanks for the lesson, Nagi. I’m sorry to have held you up. I’ll catch you later!”

“Sure thing!” she said. 

Klein raised his hand and swiped his fingers downwards, making the motion for pulling up the menu. His finger ran down the list for a moment, and then he paused. A frown appeared on his face, creasing his brow. 

“Uh...I hate to ask this, but...where’s the logout button?” he said. 

Nagi laughed. 

“Under the settings gear, there should be three items: Option, Help, and Logout,” she said. “In that order, from top to bottom.”

Klein hummed. 

“Are you sure?” he said. “I only see the top two. Maybe they changed it from the beta test?”

That seemed like a silly thing to change from the beta test. Nagi pulled up her own menu and selected the settings gear, ready to defend her stance, but then she looked at the options in the dropdown menu and felt her heart stop. Where on earth was the logout button? It made no sense to change where it was. She started flipping through other menus. It wasn’t anywhere obvious. 

“Maybe there’s a way to do it without using a menu,” Klein suggested. 

He started waving his hands around and shouting commands that made sense for logout prompts. Nagi shook her head. He tried to pull an invisible helmet off of his head. As silly as he looked doing that, it wasn’t worth keeping him uninformed. 

“The NerveGear blocks off signals to your brain’s motor functions so that you can’t move around in the real world while logged in,” she said. “And the only way to log out in the beta was with the menu. Verbal commands might cause an issue in conversation, after all.”

Klein hummed and then sighed. 

“Should we try contacting a GM, then? This sucks,” he said. “I really want to go eat my pizza.”

Nagi shrugged. She’d already placed a call to the GMs and wasn’t getting an answer. All she could figure was that the people back at Argus were frantically working to patch such an important detail. It was irritating for all of the people logged in who didn’t want to remain logged in, but patience was key. There were ten thousand copies of Sword Art Online; if everyone decided to try it out on the launch day, that would certainly bog down the server. 

“I think if we’re patient, we’ll be okay,” she reassured him.

He huffed.

“How long do you think we’ll have to wait?” he asked. 

She opened her mouth to respond, but then something like a siren went off. Their bodies started to glow as if being teleported, but they had no items to perform such an action. Nagi knew teleport crystals weren’t available for several more floors, and other than that, you needed to walk through teleports in the middle of cities. When they rematerialized, they were in the middle of the main square in the Town of Beginnings. 

The sky above them formed a giant red dome made up of hexagons that were labeled “System Alert.” Something like blood seeped through the cracks at the people below. It formed into one coherent shape, the silhouette of a man in a red cape. Under the hood, there appeared to be no face. To the thousands of screaming players below, he spread out his arms and greeted them. 

“I’m sure by now you’ve all noticed the absence of the logout button by now,” he said. “This is a crucial feature of Sword Art Online, and it is not a mistake. You can only log out of the game by clearing all one hundred floors of the castle Aincrad. Then, and only then, will you be able to log out of the game.”

From somewhere, to her left, someone shouted up at the figure.

“That’s bullshit!” 

And another to her right. 

“Yeah, what kind of sick joke is this?” 

The figure calmly responded. 

“This is not a joke,” he said. “The world is very real. You only have one life, so when your HP hits zero, you will die. Please be cautioned that tampering with the NerveGear and trying to leave the game by dying will both result in your actual death in the real world.”

More angry cries rang out from the crowd. 

The figure showed them images from the real world. News clips of coverage of the incident. There was no way to prove that anything they were seeing was real. But did they want to test that kind of boundary? If they really died when their HP hit zero, it wasn’t a risk worth taking. Nagi shuddered. It was a horrifying situation to be stuck in. 

“Surely this guy’s kidding…” Klein muttered. 

Nagi swallowed. She couldn’t say whether or not he was. 

“I’m adding something to your inventory,” he said. 

Nagi opened up her menu and materialized the item he’d just placed in there. It was a small mirror that reflected her face. A cry came from somewhere behind her. She whirled around to see several people’s faces flash white. She hid her eyes, trying to block out the light, and then glanced back up at Klein. 

“What do you think just...who are you?” she stammered.

“Who am I? I’m Klein! Who are you?!” 

She blinked. If that was Klein, then…

Her eyes slowly turned to the mirror. Her face had changed, and it was all-too familiar. She felt her body start to shake. This was the face she’d logged in to escape. This virtual world had been her safe haven. She was able to be what she pictured in her head. Yet now, the face staring back at her was her own; Klein could see it. Her heart started to pound in her chest. Dysphoria whispered in her ear.

_ The face you’re looking at isn’t even your own in the real world. _

Nagi barely registered what the figure above was saying. At some point, he vanished. The screaming around her should have been obvious. But all she could hear was her own mind echoing. She had to escape the chaos before her head burst. Without waiting to explain anything to Klein, she shoved her way through the crowd. Her mind was focused on escaping, nothing more, nothing less. 

SAO had been her liberation. 

Now, it was her prison. 

She had to find a way to escape it. Both physically and mentally. That was her one driving thought as she tore out of the Town of Beginnings, brandishing her sword. She was going to beat this game. And she was going to free herself from being trapped by the gender of her avatar along the way. 


	2. Beater

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: The second chapter of the requested fic. Hopefully this will keep me more in-line to focus on requests.

Keeping to herself was something that Nagi found preferable now that SAO had forced her to use this avatar. The less people she had to run into, the better it would be. Dealing with dysphoria was one thing, but it was much more manageable when she didn’t have to explain herself or correct other players. Soon, though, she began to wonder if this solitude was healthy at all for her. She craved some form of human attention. 

Her chance came suddenly when a meeting was called for gathering players to fight in the first floor boss. She put on a cloak and decided that would do for such a meeting. She sat in the back of the amphitheater to listen in on the information being shared. The man conducting the meeting was a smiling, princely sort of man called Diabel. Something about him seemed off- perhaps it was the false smile plastered across his face. 

His run-down of the situation was fairly straightforward. A group had finally found the location of the first boss floor after weeks of searching. He wanted everyone to form groups for parties in the boss raid, which made things difficult for solo players like Nagi. She glanced around to look for a partner when someone in the crowd stood up and leapt down next to Diabel. 

“The only reason it’s taken us this long to locate the boss chamber is because the beta testers aren’t sharing their information with us,” he snapped. 

Diabel frowned at him and shook his head. 

“What do you mean, Kibaou?” he asked. 

The man known as Kibaou whirled around and jabbed a finger at the people in the amphitheater. Several people started to murmur and look around, searching for the beta testers he was speaking about. There was obviously no way to tell who was a beta tester and who wasn’t; people could only know by watching a player who knew the area or how to complete quests to know for sure. But his words gave voice to this overall unease that all of the new players must have been sharing: beta testers should know things they didn’t.

“Beta testers made it up to several floors and know where all of the best spots to farm are,” he said. “They know the good quests with great rewards, and I bet the also know everything about the first floor boss, too! If you’re in this audience, why don’t you stand up and reveal yourselves and tell us how to beat this damn game!”

Diabel placed his hand on Kibaou’s shoulder.

“That’s enough,” he urged. 

Kibaou shook him off.

“No!” he said. “They know who they are! We’ve been trapped in here for weeks with little to no progress! There’s a hundred floors in this damn castle. They owe it to the rest of us to give up their vital information!”

This time, Diabel must have realized he couldn’t calm the man down. Nagi contemplated whether or not she should stand up and admit that she was a beta tester, but the fear of having all of that angry attention focused on her kept her seated. If everyone turned around now, they might notice she was there. And what was worse, she might risk being misgendered because of her avatar. She gripped the seat beneath her with hands. The pressure lifted when a tall, dark man with a bald head stood up and took a step towards Kibaou.

“I think you’ve been misinformed,” he said. 

Kibaou squinted up at him, grimacing. The man pulled out a booklet from his inventory.

“A beta tester has been going around and publishing information on the game and distributing it freely for the other players,” he said. “Information in here is adequate enough for anyone to find these spots, should they choose to read a copy for themselves.”

The smaller man gritted his teeth, but had nothing he could say in response to this. Diabel cleared his throat, and the two men in front of him went and sat down. With that out of the way, Diabel encouraged people to make groups. Nagi cautiously looked around and noticed one other person in a cape seated just a ways away from her. She awkwardly scooted over to the other person. 

“Are you having trouble finding a partner as well?” she asked. 

The hooded figure shook their head. 

“I just came to get information,” they said. “It doesn’t matter if we team up or not. We’re all going to die at some point either way.”

Nagi frowned. This person was incredibly pessimistic about this sort of thing. While she couldn’t deny that the death game was unnerving to herself as well, she at least knew how to play an MMO. She had to trust in her gaming skills. She frowned and tilted her head. 

“You don’t know that,” she said. “Why don’t you team up with me? Just for the boss fight, of course.”

The hooded figure turned their head to glance at her. 

“What’s your name?”

She swallowed. 

“Nagi,” she said. “I use she/her pronouns. And you?”

The person tilted their head. 

“What do you mean by you use ‘she/her’ pronouns?” they asked. 

Nagi shifted a little, tensing up. 

“Oh, sorry,” she said. “It’s a habit I’ve gotten into. It’s a polite way to do introductions, I suppose. It helps transgender and nonbinary people feel more comfortable asserting their pronouns in groups.”

The person just nodded. 

“I see,” they said. “My name is Asuna. I suppose I’ll tell you the same. My pronouns are she and her.”

Nagi smiled. That had gone over much more smoothly than she’d expected. She’d thought the girl next to her had presumed she was male based on her avatar, but it was clear now that Asuna had had no idea one way or another. It was almost as if she didn’t realize that the avatars were restricted to certain outfits. She shook her head, trying not to focus on that detail for the moment. She manipulated her menu and sent Asuna a partnership request. 

The other girl glanced down at her menu and hesitated for a moment before she selected the button to accept the request. Nagi saw the girl’s name spelled out for her for the first time, now visible under her own health bar as a partner. She couldn’t help but smile. She hadn’t really spoken to anyone since that first fateful day. This was her chance to make a friend- finally. 

“We can meet up a little before the raid tomorrow to go over some tactics,” she said. 

Asuna nodded and agreed that that was an okay plan. The two split ways for the night. Nagi quickly left the meeting after they were assigned their raid group. She was a bit anxious about the upcoming battle. It would be the first big group she’d been in since the beta test. Asuna had calmly accepted her for who she was, but could she expect the same of the others in the group? She tried to get sleep with these restless thoughts, but before she knew it, it was morning again.

She restocked all of her potions before heading out. The group gathered a bit early, just like she’d expected, to discuss some strategies as they headed for the boss room. She waved Asuna over to her and greeted her with a cheery smile. Asuna didn’t seem nearly as enthused as Nagi was hoping she’d be, but she didn’t push it. As they walked, she tried discussing some techniques with her and soon discovered a shocking truth about her new partner.

“I’ve never played an MMO before.”

The revelation struck her in the chest quite suddenly. 

“N-never?” she stammered.

Asuna shook her head. 

“I just tried on my brother’s Nervegear out of curiosity,” she said. “I wasn’t planning on seriously playing SAO. But now I’m trapped here. And I’ll probably die here. So I want to die fighting, while I’m still myself.”

Nagi bit her lip and walked beside her in silence for a bit. She didn’t want her to think this way, but she could see the logic behind it. She did her best to change the subject. Asuna listened somewhat numbly while she expressed different ways to handle boss-fighting tactics. By the time they arrived, Nagi wasn’t so sure whether or not Asuna had internalized it all, but she brought out her weapon, a simple rapier, and assumed a ready position.

Diabel held the front and did the honors of pushing the door open for all of the players. They silently entered the room and took their positions as the room lit up. The sequence started for the appearance of the boss monster, a boss that was familiar to Nagi from the beta test- Illfang the Kobold Lord. Diabel commanded the front lines expertly. Nagi glanced over at Asuna, wondering if she was prepared enough.

The moment came soon after the thought; she and Asuna bolted forward to take their turns, and it seemed like the quick lessons she’d given to her teammate had worked well enough. They exchanged a few blows with the gigantic beast and then leapt back to recover. The pattern followed the groups in order, from those attacking to those shielding. All seemed fine up until the boss went to change patterns. Instead of ordering a group to change strategies, Diabel himself dashed forward, screaming, clearly aiming to take the last attack for himself.

“Hold on a minute…” Nagi mumbled. 

He was a beta tester, just like she was. But unlike in the beta, the boss chose a weapon that was new to even Nagi and Diabel. She sprinted forward, trying to stop him, but was too late. The boss brought its new weapon down on Diabel’s body, ripping a line through his avatar. Nagi leapt over beside him and quickly pulled out a health potion. 

“You knew the attack pattern from the beta,” she said quietly. 

Diabel numbly nodded.

“You, too?” he mumbled. “I recognize your voice, but I can’t tell how…”

She tried to shove the bottle at him.

“Here, take this,” she said. 

He shook his head. 

“Don’t tell them,” he said. 

Nagi’s face scrunched up. She didn’t want to lie to the screaming crowd behind her, but she had to respect his wishes. As Diabel burst into a cloud of glittering glass shards, she called out to Asuna and charged the boss. They switched back and forth, taking blows back and forth. The boss swung his weapon around. Nagi leapt to the side, knocking Asuna down, and tensed up. 

“We have your back!”

She turned her head to see the tall man from the meeting and his squad rush at the boss to protect them. She turned back to Asuna and apologized. They leapt back up to their feet. She nodded at her partner and received a nod in return.

“Let’s finish it!” she said. 

The two leapt forward, once again hitting the boss monster with a volley of sword strikes. Nagi finally landed the final hit on it, ripping her sword through its body with a scream escaping her throat. It finally hit the last of its HP and burst into light. The notification that she’d received the last attack bonus popped up in front of her. Silence filled the room. 

“What the hell was that?”

She turned around and saw the angry man, Kibaou, approaching. 

“Did you just let him die?” he screamed. 

She got up to her feet. 

“I offered him a potion,” she told him, her eyes glinting. “He refused it.”

Kibaou gritted his teeth for a moment. 

“You...you knew the boss was different than the beta!” he exclaimed. “You’re a beta tester!”

She glared over at him and let out a dry laugh. 

“So what if I am?” she asked. “But don’t just lot me in with those other beta testers. My skills were far better than those guys.”

“Why you...you’re clearly not just a beta tester!” someone cried. “You’re a cheater! You’re not even sharing things with us!”

“A beta tester and a cheater! A beater! That’s what you are!” another person shouted. 

Nagi sighed and shook her head. 

“A beater, huh?” she said. “Sure. I’m a beater.”

She turned on her heels and started up the staircase to the second floor. No one really cared to follow her for a moment, but then Asuna hurried up a few steps after her. 

“Wait...are you really okay with this?” she asked. 

Nagi frowned at her. 

“Are you going to take the side of the beater, then?” she asked. 

Asuna’s expression darkened. She didn’t say anything or move forward. Nagi turned back around and continued up the stairs, waving her hand. She quickly dissolved the partnership between herself and Asuna. As far as she was concerned, there was no need to ostracize Asuna from the group like this. 

“I thought so,” she mumbled. 

And with all of the players present watching her back, she took her first steps onto the second floor. 


	3. A Place to Belong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: The third chapter. Trying my best to keep a decent pace.

The last thing she’d expected when she ran into a small group of people in need of saving in a dungeon was being roped into a dinner. Nagi politely accepted, unsure of what else she could do at that point. As the small guild, a group who named themselves the Moonlit Black Cats, raised their glasses in a toast to her swooping in to save them, she told herself not to get too close to anyone. She was a solo player so that no one would realize she had a male avatar, after all. This was just a form of politeness. But the one question she hadn’t expected popped up so suddenly she felt her heart stop.

“Join your...guild?” she repeated.

The leader of the group, a boy named Keita, grinned at her and smiled. 

“Your skill would be a great addition to our little guild,” he said. “Plus, I’d love it if you helped Sachi learn some more skills. She’s a bit scared, but after a few rounds of lessons with you, I’m sure she’ll get the hang of it.”

Everything in her told her to refuse. 

“Right,” she said. 

She’d practically sealed her fate with that one word. Before she knew it, they had sent her the request to join the guild, and Nagi was officially a member of the Moonlit Black Cats. And despite her misgivings and worries, it didn’t start off all that bad. They were a friendly bunch, a group of kids who all were in the same club at school. She was the only one they didn’t know outside of SAO. 

But she didn’t feel out of place. The guild made her feel welcome, and they even told her sometimes that Sachi had perked up quite a bit, likely grateful to have another girl in the guild with her. It made Nagi’s chest feel warm. They didn’t ask questions, nor did they spend time staring at her avatar and wondering why the armor dropped for her was never skirts. In fact, they were an open-minded group of people, and while they never asked, it was clear they knew. 

“Nagi, I...I took some time to make something for you,” Sachi said one time. 

She held up a purple skirt that she’d taken the time to learn how to craft. Her soft tone seemed rather embarrassed by her gesture, but Nagi felt her heart overflowing with joy. Her friends...her guildmates. They were kind and accepting in a way that felt like no other. Sachi had learned her favorite color and helped her learn how to craft her own items. The members complimented her looks and told her she looked amazing. And they praised her skill in battle without knowing an unfortunate truth about their new guild member.

Nagi’s level was much higher than theirs.

It wasn’t that she didn’t trust them. Perhaps it was more embarrassing at this point to admit her numbers were that much higher than it was for her to openly tell them she was transgender. But that feeling came from the overall vibe of the guild. They were people that accepted their friends for who they were, but they were weak and wanted so badly to become strong. While Nagi had slipped away from being on the front lines for a while, the Moonlit Black Cats dreamt of being where she used to stand. She feared their reaction when they learned of her past as a clearer, and she thought long and hard about when to admit it to them.

At some point, she found that Sachi was more open with her than the others were. Was it because of the fact that they were both girls? She couldn’t be sure. Sachi began to ask, very timidly, if she could sleep in the same bed as Nagi. It made her feel safer, she’d said. Nagi saw no reason to object. It was like having a little sister. What had been a one-time request eventually became a regular habit. They shared a bed while Nagi carefully only displayed her menu when she thought Sachi wasn’t looking. 

But Sachi’s fear wasn’t sated by that. As she went out on her own one day, having told no one she was out farming to level herself further, she came up on a hill and stared down below her. A guild was running around fighting a pack of wolf-monsters. They cleared it up and turned up to look at her. She recognized the scruffy face of one man. He waved at his guild-mate and then started running towards her, waving and shouting.

“Oi, Nagi! Nagi, is that you?” he called. 

She frowned and nodded at him. 

“Hello, Klein,” she said flatly. 

The older man frowned, probably realizing that he was talking to a young girl at night. The situation made him look sketchy, even if both he and Nagi knew he meant no ill will. He shook his head and then scratched his hair.

“What are you doing out here?” he asked. 

He blinked a few times.

“Is that...are you in a guild?” he asked. “No way!”

She lowered her head. 

“Well...sorta…” she started.

She was cut off by a notification in her messaging. She pulled it up to see a note from Keita. She swore under her breath. Sachi had run away. She apologized to Klein, turned on her heels, and ran into the city, turning on the Search function. Knowing how cowardly Sachi tended to be, she knew the girl wouldn’t have left the safe zone. She hurriedly followed the footsteps guiding her to her guildmate until she finally came to a stop down in a canal street.

To her left, there was a river canal calmly flowing. Above them, the streets of the town arched over the canal, in a setup that was characteristically Parisian. Down here, though, she didn’t see any of the shops along the water that one might see in Paris. There was just one girl, hiding beneath the shadow of a bridge, with her knees pulled tightly to her chest. 

“Everyone’s looking for you, Sachi,” she said, trying to keep her voice calm.

The girl hummed. 

“Hey, Nagi…” she mumbled. 

Nagi nervously sat down a little ways away from her. 

“Yes?” she said. 

Sachi clutched her knees tighter. 

“Let’s run away together.”

Nagi blinked her eyes at the girl. 

“From the guild?” she asked. 

Sachi shook her head. 

“From this death game,” she said. “From Sword Art Online.”

Nagi almost choked hearing those words, and there was no need to even breathe in this game. Sachi’s words seemed to imply some sort of suicide. She shuddered. Had she thought about it? Who hadn’t. But would she actually do it? No. She wanted to escape to get the life she truly wanted after this; a life where she didn’t live in fear of her body and how it made her feel. She bit her lip. 

“I…”

Sachi let out a dry laugh. 

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I think I’m actually too afraid to even do that. I’m so terrified of dying. I don’t want to leave the safe zones.”

Smiling, Nagi leaned over.

“Sachi, you’re not going to die.”

The girl lifted her head and looked over at her with tear-filled eyes. 

“Because I’m going to protect you.”

In the end, Sachi came back with her. The rest of the guild was oblivious to their secret conversation and the very bold promise Nagi had made to the girl. She fought on with this determination in her soul. Under no circumstances would she let Sachi die. It was her new goal in this game. She’d achieved her acceptance here with the Moonlit Black Cats; now she would protect the guild with everything she had. 

Things seemed to be progressing nicely. They earned more col, they gained more experience, and then finally, the day came that they’d collected enough to put it to good use. Keita’s suggestion was to buy a guildhouse. The group readily agreed. He left them to it one bright morning as he went to purchase a player home for their use. It was at that point that Ducker turned around and grinned to the group.

“Let’s go get some loot in a higher-level dungeon so we can get some furniture later!” he said. 

Nagi frowned. 

“W-wouldn’t you just rather farm a reliable spot that doesn’t risk much danger?” she suggested.

The others shook their heads. 

“The loot’s better up on higher floors,” he said. “If we don’t wander too far, it won’t be so bad. Besides, it’s well within our safety-margin.”

She had no choice but to go along with it. They chose a dungeon up on Floor 27 and made their way through it, saying all the while that they were being fairly safe. A lot of the loot was, as they’d expected, much better than if they’d farmed a small, safer spot. The battles weren’t too tough. Nagi thought maybe she’d overreacted. Things would go well, and they would return to Keita with a big surprise later. 

A hidden room opened up and revealed a lone treasure chest in it. Nagi’s instincts told her not to enter that room with players at a much lower level than her. She reached out to stop them, but the eager guildmates dash inside, happy to have found such an easy reward. As soon as she stepped inside, opening her mouth to tell Ducker not to lift the lid, his fingers were already holding the lid up. An alarm sounded, and the door behind them slammed shut.

“This isn’t good…” Tetsuo said. 

Ducker shook his head. 

“Just use your teleport crystals,” he said. 

He pulled out a crystal and chanted the words to escape the room, but nothing happened. This room clearly blocked the use of teleport crystals until the battle was over. Large golems poured out of spaces in the walls, flooding the room with enemies. Nagi did what she had to. She fought. Enemy after enemy. That was the only way out of this trap. She felt the guilt in her chest build up as she watched her comrades shatter into glass shards. 

_ Please...everyone...hang on...I’ll….I’ll… _

It was pointless. Their screams filled her ears as they died. She backed up to get a clearer view of the situation. It was only her and Sachi left now. Sachi was trying to fight off the golems in front of her, but she didn’t see the ones to her rear. Nagi thrust herself forward. She had to reach Sachi before the golems did. She had to. She had to--

A large hand reached down and struck her down. 

Everything stilled and became silent. 

Sachi’s lips moved as she locked eyes with Nagi.

And then the girl’s avatar shattered, leaving Nagi completely and utterly alone.

* * *

She recalled hanging her head as she delivered the news to Keita. The horrible words he’d said to her just before he thrust himself off of the side of Aincrad rang in her ears for weeks. Months passed. Their screams, Sachi’s calm expression, and Keita’s suicide never left her mind. The first people who had truly accepted her were now gone.

On Christmas Eve, she met with Argo, asking for a few hints about a certain event that would be happening. The supposed reward was a revival item. Nagi’s desperation drove her to believe in that rumor. She packed up her bags and prepared herself for the fight. She’d revive Sachi so she could hear those last words of hers. If they cursed her name, so be it. At least she’d have a reason to maintain feeling this guilt. 

She hurried out to the location, hoping to reach it with no one on her tail, when a hand reached out and stopped her.

“Nagi, I don’t know what’s gotten into you lately, but you can’t just fight a boss-level monster on your own for a rumor.”

That was Klein’s voice. As if he cared. 

“Why were you following me?” she asked. 

He stammered for a moment before something clear exited his mouth.

“I don’t want you to die, kid!” he said. “You haven’t pushed through this far just to die! I won’t let it happen!”

Amidst his shouting, another group appeared in the night. Nagi turned around and sucked her teeth. 

“Looks like you were being followed, too,” she said dryly.

Klein grimaced. 

“Ugh, fine!” he growled. “Go on! We’ll hold them off! But you better come back alive!” 

Nodding, Nagi entered the space for the event and prepared herself for the fight. A beast that was meant to look like a crude St. Nicholas, aptly named “Nicholas the Renegade,” fell from the sky and unleashed a shriek of a noise. She pulled out her sword, ready for this to be over with. 

“Shut up,” she muttered.

* * *

When she exited the space, Klein’s men were all sitting in the snow, gasping for their breath. They looked up at her sunken face. She held out the object, which looked like a single bell, and then she tossed it to Klein. He gasped and caught the object. He mumbled to himself as he read the function of the item.

“Within fifteen seconds?!” he exclaimed. 

She stared numbly at him and started to walk away. 

“Use it on the next person you see dying before your eyes,” she said. “Good night.”

Klein leapt up and grasped the back of her coat. 

“Nagi,” he said. 

She stopped walking, but lowered her head and said nothing. 

“Survive this game,” he pleaded softly. “You gotta.”

She just nodded and disappeared back into her hotel.

* * *

As she rested in her chair, she didn’t have a single thought in her head. Her attempt to find a revival item had clearly failed. There was no way to bring back the dead in SAO. That rule couldn’t be broken. How could she have been so foolish? She figured all she could do was go and fight until she, too, inevitably died and saw a last glimpse of Sachi’s trusting face. She balled her hands up into fists and opened her menu, ready to equip herself and head out without a care about her life.

A message notification stopped her. She opened her inbox and her heart leapt into her throat. 

“Sachi?” she breathed.

Hesitatingly, she opened the message. It was a voice message. It had been pre-recorded. She heard Sachi’s voice coming through, telling her that she knew that by now, she figured she’d already be dead. She said it wasn’t that she hadn’t trusted Nagi; no, she just knew that she’d die, and that Nagi would blame herself. So, she recorded this message, and she told her she was happy knowing Nagi. She was happy that Nagi was strong and confident. And she loved hearing her tell her that she’d protect her. 

Nagi clutched the fabric over her chest and let out a sob. Sachi left a little song at the end of the track, which made her sob even harder. She’d gotten this poor girl killed, and yet she still thanked her. Thanked her for everything. 

“And Nagi,” Sachi’s voice said.

She sniffled and wiped off her eyes. 

“I know it’s a hard world for you, but you’ll make it just fine,” Sachi said. “Don’t let anyone tell you you aren’t a girl, Nagi. Be proud of who you are. Thank you for being my best friend. Good bye.”

The message ended. 

Nagi curled up on herself and nodded, quietly crying to herself. 


	4. A Kind Person

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So my "i" key only works half of the time and writing this chapter I realized how big of a problem that can be when you have a character like Silica whose name needs all those "i's" hahahahahah. Help.

There was one thing that Nagi knew as she raced towards the voice crying out in fear in that pitch black forest: she had to save the girl who was in trouble. She’d been on this floor looking for a particular leader of an orange guild, more specifically, the leader of Titan’s Hand. This woman often hid in green guilds and then lured them out somewhere for the rest of the orange players to kill them off, and she feared that these cries were from such an unfortunate innocent player who’d come across the group. Her goal was to capture the woman and her guild and send them all to Blackiron Prison; this was the request of the desperate sole survivor of the guild Silver Flags, and she shouldn’t have gotten side-tracked.

So, when she came into the clearing and saw that the player was alone, being attacked not by PKers, but by Drunken Apes, she told herself that it was for the best that she saved this girl. Even if it wasn’t a part of the mission she was on, she couldn’t just leave another player to die alone like this. She made quick work of the Drunken Apes, sending them to their digital death with practiced thrusts of her sword, and then she turned around to face the player. 

She was a young girl, clearly younger than herself. She had mouse-brown hair pulled up into pigtails and big, tear-filled ruby eyes. Her clothing was red. She was shorter than Nagi, too, which added to her childish demeanor. She sniffled as she looked up at Nagi, her lips quivering as she tried to form words. 

“Pina…” she mumbled. 

Nagi looked around. There were no other players, so she feared that a friend may have been unlucky. However, after a quick scan of the area, she noticed that there was a glowing feather on the ground in front of her. She knelt down and picked it up to hand to the girl, offering her what was clearly the only thing left of a familiar. The girl took it with shaking hands and stared down at it.

“It looks like your familiar dropped something,” she said. 

The girl tapped on the feather to read the item name, and then her face scrunched up, clearly indicating that more tears were coming. 

“Pina’s Heart,” she said, choking on a sob. 

Nagi stood up and bit her lip. 

“You know, if you want to resurrect a familiar, you can go retrieve a revival item on the 47th floor,” she said. 

The girl looked down at the ground. 

“I’m sure if I work really hard, then someday I’ll be able to go and get it,” she said. “My level’s too low now. But thank you for the information. I’ll work hard.”

Nagi shook her head. 

“A familiar can only be resurrected three days after it died,” she said slowly. “And it has to be retrieved by the person who raised the familiar.”

Her face scrunched up again, indicating she might cry some more. Nagi pulled up her menu. She sucked her teeth when she looked at the drops she’d just received from the Drunken Apes. She started to select items and send them over to the girl. She didn’t want any of these anyways; she only wore her own custom-made armor to ensure that her avatar passed. These items were generic and would appear as male clothes on her, so she wanted nothing to do with them. The girl yelped with surprise. 

“I-I really can’t take this!” she cried. 

Smiling, Nagi just laughed.

“It’s really no trouble,” she said. “Hopefully, that’s enough to boost your level to fight on Floor 47. But it’s late now; shall I accompany you back to town?”

All the girl could do was nod and thank her. It was a long walk back into town, so it was the least that Nagi could do for her. She would accompany the girl back to her hotel, and then she would resume her mission. Her every intent was to part ways at the hotel, but then, something changed her plans completely. As they walked into the town and approached the hotel, none other than the leader of Titan’s Hand stepped out of the crowd to confront this girl.

“Ahh, if it isn’t Silica,” the woman, named Rosalia, said. “Where’s your little pet?”

Silica scrunched up her face. 

“Pina died to protect me,” she said. 

Rosalia glanced up at Nagi and huffed.

“And let me guess, you’re already clinging to someone else for help?” she huffed. 

Nagi realized now that she had a chance to use this situation. She could help Silica and capture Rosalia’s guild all at the same time. Smiling, she stepped between the two women and pulled some of her hair back over her shoulder. 

“Actually, I’m just here to help out a good friend,” she said. “As it turns out, Silica and I knew each other back in the real world, so I decided to help her go and get a revival item for Pina. I’ve got plenty of time on my hands because I play solo, so this worked out really well, don’t you think so, Silica?”

She turned to look at Silica, who didn't seem to know what to do with this sort of improv. The girl just started nodding her head. 

“So, we’ll be on our way now,” Nagi said. 

She took Silica by the shoulders and silently pleaded for her forgiveness. She swore to herself that she’d explain when all of this was through. She took the girl into a restaurant, and after a quick meal, they booked a hotel and shared a room for the night. Silica sat on the bed across from Nagi and fiddled with her nightshirt. 

“Thank you,” she said. “I don’t know why you lied, but thank you for helping me revive Pina.”

Nagi smiled and nodded her head. 

“Of course,” she said. “I’d been meaning to tell you I’d accompany you to the Hill of Memories, but it slipped my mind as we were talking on the way back.”

Silica smiled and nodded shyly. 

“You’re a kind person, Nagi,” she said. “I named Pina after my cat back in the real world. I miss her terribly...losing Pina felt like...like…”

The tears were going to start going again. Nagi walked over to the girl and wrapped her arms around her. She pulled her into a careful hug, wary of the fact that the harassment code could sound off if she was too careless with her movements. She caressed Silica’s shoulders gently and shook her back and forth a bit. 

“I know,” she said. “Losing someone, even a pet or a familiar, that is special to us hurts a lot. But we’re going to get Pina back. I promise.”

To put the girl’s mind at ease, she pulled out a map and set up a plan for the next day. She described the path to the Hill of Memories and gave Silica pointers for how to handle the monsters along the path. Her words were taken very sincerely by the younger girl. She couldn’t help but smile. As they lay down to finally sleep, Silica asked her why she slept in her armor. She gave an offhand excuse about feeling more secure sleeping in armor. Since Silica didn’t seem the type to question things, the girl accepted the answer and went right to sleep.

* * *

The next morning, they arrived on the 47th floor in the town of Floria with two very different goals in mind. For Nagi, she was both helping out this girl and luring out the entirety of Titan’s Hand. For Silica, the only goal was to rescue Pina. As they walked around the garden area around the teleport gate, Nagi noticed that a lot of the players were in pairs as they walked through the town. She found herself wishing she had a pretty girl to escort through such a garden herself. She shook her head. It was business time.

At her level, the enemies weren’t much of an issue for her to deal with. Silica, on the other hand, frequently found herself struggling to fight the plant-like monsters that spawned along the path. She helped where she could, but she left as much of it as possible to the younger girl to help her to level up. Boosting her numbers meant that she’d be a lot safer; it put Nagi at more ease as she followed behind her. 

The Hill of Memories only took about an hour to reach. She was grateful that Silica was a rather fast learner when it came to the monsters spawned along the way, otherwise this wouldn’t have gone as smoothly. The girl dashed over to the pedestal and excitedly squealed as she waited for the revival item to appear. It started to slowly grow out of the pedestal, revealing itself to be a pale off-white flower that resembled a lily. Silica reached over to the flower and gently plucked it from its stem. Nagi smiled and gave her a high-five.

“Awesome!” she said. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

Silica shook her head, her pigtails bobbing as she did so. 

“But, I don’t think I could have made it here without you, Nagi,” she said. “Again...thank you.”

Nagi laughed. 

“Don’t thank me yet,” she said. “We still need to make it back to the safe zone before you try to revive Pina. She’ll need some time to level up again before you let her encounter higher level monsters like these.”

Silica nodded. 

“Right,” she said. “Let’s get back to our hotel!”

Nagi silently apologized again to her new friend. When all of this was over, she could only hope that Silica would be understanding. If not, she would go about her way, glad that she could at least help the girl out. 

The path back felt shorter than the one to the Hill of Memories, but perhaps that was because Silica’s skills had improved. They worked their way almost all of the way back to Floria, but they were stopped short when Nagi sensed someone hiding on the opposite side of the bridge. She held up her arm and told Silica to wait there. She walked out onto the bridge and cleared her throat. 

“Why don’t you come on out where I can see you?” she said. 

Without much alarm, Rosalia stepped out from behind a tree.

“Wow, your detection skill must be really impressive for you to have noticed me there,” she said, twirling her hair with her finger. 

Nagi narrowed her eyes.

“All of you,” she said.

Laughing, Rosalia sighed and then snapped her fingers. The rest of her guild, all with orange markers, stepped out from behind the trees. Nagi crossed her arms and shifted her weight. 

“Titan’s Hand,” she huffed. “I knew you’d come to steal the Pneuma Flower.”

Behind her, Silica gasped. She didn’t blame her. She’d been used as bait to lure out an orange guild. It was enough to shock anyone. 

“I was going to be pillaging Silica’s old guild, but overhearing that you two were going for the rare revival item made me change my plans,” Rosalia said.

Nagi pulled out a teleport crystal. 

“You killed all but one member of Silver Flags,” she said, fire burning in her eyes as she spoke. “The survivor begged me to send you all to Blackiron. And to Blackiron you’ll go.”

Rosalia laughed. 

“You and what army? Silica?” she laughed. “Don’t be fooled by her confidence, men. Kill her.”

"Are you sure boss? Isn't that the Purple Swordswoman?" one of the members said, pointing in Nagi's direction.

Rosalia huffed.

"It's just one girl," she said. "She can't fight all of you. Kill her."

Behind Nagi, Silica let out a shriek as the members of Titan’s Hand leapt forward and started to cut through Nagi’s avatar over and over and over. But the more they cut, the more they came to realize: their swords would never kill her. Her levels were too high for them to reach. They all stopped swinging and took a step back. 

“I-impossible!” Rosalia stammered. 

Nagi shook her head.

“Not at all,” she said. “I wanted to be strong enough to protect myself and the people I care for. With high enough numbers, I can do just that. I can protect players like Silica from players like you.”

Rosalia turned her spear towards Nagi.

“You’ll have to kill me,” she said. “I won’t surrender. And you pesky green players won’t kill because you think we’re really going to die in here!”

Huffing, Nagi drew her blade and flashed forward, placing her sword against Rosalia’s neck. 

“As much as I don’t want to,” she said, “I can handle being an orange player for a few days for the sake of my friends.”

Rosalia’s spear dropped out of her hands. Without a reason to fight on, the members of Titan’s Hand admitted their defeat and all went without a fuss to

Blackiron. After they were gone, Nagi turned back around to Silica and bowed deeply to her. 

“I am terribly sorry for using you to lure her out,” she said. “I hope that you can forgive me.”

Silica shook her head. 

“Now that I see what you were doing, I’m not mad at all, Nagi,” she said. “You just wanted to help someone.”

Nagi lifted her head and caught Silica’s smile. 

“Because you’re a very kind person, Nagi,” she said. 

Nagi smiled and nodded. 

“Now,” she said, “let’s go and revive Pina.”

Silica nodded. 

“Yes, let’s.”


	5. The Safety of Safe Zones

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Was it smart to do this whole section as one chapter? Ahahaha...who knows...

The warmth of the digital sun was enough to make anyone sleepy, but Nagi knew that the person hovering over her to interrupt her wasn’t the sort to let such pleasantries get to her. Without opening her eyes, she greeted the other girl, trying to be pleasant while simultaneously wanting her to let her nap. 

“Hello, Asuna,” she said. “Come to join me?”

She could practically feel Asuna’s rejection of that notion, and her eyes were closed. 

“We have dungeons to clear, in case that wasn’t obvious,” Asuna said. “Do you have a good reason for laying out here and being lazy all day?”

Nagi shrugged. 

“I just thought it was a pretty day,” she admitted. “I thought I’d take a break. Go ahead without me. I’ll stay here.”

Without another thought, Nagi pushed Asuna’s presence out of her mind and curled up to fall asleep. It was a peaceful sleep, one devoid of nightmares or dysphoria. She enjoyed every minute of that peace, and when she finally came to, she reached up and stretched out, feeling rather refreshed. She looked around. The sun was starting to set, and she could see it in the aperture of the great castle walls. She moved to stand up and yelped when she saw she wasn’t alone. Asuna was right beside her, curled up and dozing without a care. Frowning, she reached down and shook the girl’s shoulder. 

“H-hey!” she said. 

Asuna snapped to attention, pulling out her sword to stab whoever had just disturbed her. Nagi put both of her hands up as she backed away quickly. Asuna blinked at her and looked around. 

“...dinner.”

Nagi blinked at her, not understanding.

“Let’s go and get dinner,” Asuna said, clearer this time. 

Unable to argue, Nagi nodded her head. 

“Whatever you say, vice commander.”

* * *

The diner itself wasn’t very far from where the pair had been napping. Nagi suspected that Asuna was paying her with food as a means to keep her from telling others that the vice commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath had been lazily napping beneath a tree outside of a safe zone. She kept her mouth shut, though, and ordered something reasonable from the limited menu. Nagi tapped her finger on the table and awkwardly stared across at Asuna, who was perfectly poised and ignoring the eyes all staring at them. 

“So, I hope you’ll keep today’s events to yourself,” Asuna said. “We wouldn’t want word getting around about it.”

The way she talked, it sounded like something else was going on.

“Of course,” Nagi said. “It’s not like I have anyone to tell…”

Asuna gave her a pointed look as their meals were set down in front of them. They both muttered a quick thanks for their food and started to eat in silence. They’d been awkwardly avoiding one another since the first floor, mostly because of their last personal conversation. 

_ Are you going to take the side of the beater, then? _

Those were the last words Nagi had said to Asuna before leaving her to fend for herself. Asuna had been a new gamer at that point. Her potential had been great, but Nagi had wanted her to go out and befriend the other players. She’d set herself up as a villain of sorts by declaring herself a beater, but in reality, she’d just wanted to keep people away to avoid any possible misgendering. Asuna didn’t know any of that, though, and so, she continued to engage Nagi at meetings with a rather sour attitude, one that spoke to the offense she’d taken at that declaration.

“This food is pretty good,” Nagi commented, trying to break up the silence.

Asuna nodded.

“I dine here quite frequently,” she said. “After all-”

Her words were cut off with a scream. The two girls leapt to their feet and dashed outside to see what was going on. When they ran out into the open square, they saw a man in full armor hanging from a window by a rope. Embedded in his stomach was what looked like a one-handed sword. The damage effects coming out of his stomach combined with the look of anguish on his face suggested that he was injured, but that couldn’t have been possible. In a safe zone, one’s HP couldn’t go down. As cruel as SAO was, it was still a fair game. Safe was safe.

“Nagi, you go try to get him down,” Asuna said. “I’ll catch him.”

Without questioning her, Nagi nodded her head and bolted up the stairs. No matter what was going on, they couldn’t just ignore it in order to prove a point. She hurried into the main space and searched for the room he was dangling out of. When she arrived at the top, there was a rope tied very securely to the furniture. Since furniture was immovable in most rooms, it didn’t budge under the player’s weight. Nagi hurried to the window and thrust her arm down. 

“I’m going to pull you up!” she exclaimed. 

But it was too late. The man burst into glass shards before she could grasp the rope. The sword fell out of his midsection and clattered onto the cobblestone ground of the otherwise silent square. Nagi stared down at the sword lying on the ground, feeling an uneasy sense of dread bubbling up her throat. This wasn’t the scene she’d expected, and now, there was a reason to fear harm in a safe zone.

* * *

Asuna talked to the girl who had first screamed in the square. Her name was Yolko, and she was apparently meeting the man who’d just died for dinner. She’d said his name was Kains and that they’d formerly been in the same guild together. Asuna told her that she’d ask her more questions in the morning and insisted that she get a good night’s rest. As her final action of the evening, she demanded that Nagi help out with the investigation, since she’d been on the scene of the crime. 

Overnight, Nagi was tasked with discovering more about the weapon. She took it to Agil, her friend with an appraising skill, and determined that it was a player-made weapon. Someone named Grimlock had created it, and the blade’s name was Guilty Thorn. With the ominous blade name and player creator, Nagi curled up in a hotel room and did her best to regain some peaceful sleep. 

The next morning, thus, felt less than refreshing. Nagi met Asuna back at the same restaurant, where they shared a meal with Yolko and listened to her story. It was a complicated operation, from the sound of it. Yolko’s guild had split up over an internal dispute over whether or not to sell an item. When the vote landed in favor of selling, the guild leader, Griselda, was killed on her way to sell it, and the item was never recovered, likely pillaged by the people that killed her. Yolko suspected that someone in the guild was exacting revenge on those who’d voted to keep the ring instead of sell it.

“Who all voted to keep it?” Nagi asked.

Yolko said the names aloud for them to hear. 

“Myself, Kains, and Schmitt,” she said. “We were the three that voted against selling it. If the person is angry at us thinking we killed Griselda, then it’s likely either Schmitt or I will be targeted next.”

Nagi and Asuna shared a nod. They knew what to do. Nagi took the liberty of heading down to collect Schmitt while Asuna relocated them to the hotel room Yolko was staying in. Nagi showed Schmitt the way into the room, and when she got there, Yolko was seated with her back to the window, facing the door. Asuna was standing closer to the door. She waved for Schmitt to sit down. 

“So, what’s this about?” Schmitt asked.

Yolko bowed her head a little.

“Kains...is dead,” she said.

Schmitt’s face turned white. The system must have overblown his fear response. 

“I believe that someone is trying to exact revenge on Griselda,” she said. “It’s only a matter of time before they come after us as well.”

Schmitt’s unease transferred into a physical reaction. He shook his leg rather furiously, something he hadn’t been doing when he’d entered the room. Nagi wasn’t sure if it was a stimming response or a nervous tic. Either way, he seemed more on edge now that Yolko had introduced the idea of an avenger. He must have understood what she did. They were both suspects as people who’d disagreed with the final verdict. Yolko stood up and started backing over to the window. Nagi watched her, frowning. Did she suspect Schmitt? Or was she just doing what was natural for her and attempting to get some air? She must have known by now that the game wouldn’t give her that sort of relief.

“Or perhaps...it’s Griselda’s ghost!” she cried.

Asuna frowned rather unpleasantly and shook her head. 

“Yolko, I don’t think that’s the case,” she said, trying to offer a calm voice of reason.

Schmitt shook his head. 

“She’s out for revenge on her killer?” he shrieked.

Yolko grasped her head and cried even louder. 

“Griselda’s ghost is coming to take care of anyone who disagreed!” she cried. “There’s no escaping it, there’s no-”

A dull thud sounded. Asuna and Nagi both hurried forward. Yolko staggered, and then she turned on her side, falling out of the window, with the apparently hilt of the dagger sticking out of her back as she fell. Nagi watched as the dagger clattered to the ground just like the sword had, glanced at Asuna, and then immediately scanned the area for an assailant. Someone in a cloak was up on the opposite roof. Mumbling an apology, Nagi leapt out of the window and ran along after the person. She pulled out a few throwing picks and got ready to aim them at the cloaked figure, but before she could, the person teleported away with a crystal. Swearing, she stopped in her tracks and headed back to the hotel, only to see that Asuna looked rather pale and Schmitt had left the scene.

* * *

“It doesn’t make any good sense,” Asuna said. “Two murders in safe zones with no clear evidence as to how it happened. If we don’t solve this, then people are going to start getting uneasy.”

Nagi nodded and leaned back against the bench. Asuna pulled a couple of sandwiches out of her inventory and handed one over to Nagi.

“Here, these don’t have much durability left, so eat up quickly,” she said. 

Smiling, Nagi thanked Asuna for the meal and took a bite of it. The flavors burst in her mouth, filling her mouth with such vivid, long-lost tastes. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something about this tasted more real than any foods she’d bought in Aincrad so far. She perked up and looked at Asuna.

“Hey, where did you get these?” she said. 

Asuna shook her head.

“They’re player-made,” she said. “You can’t buy these.”

Nagi frowned. 

“By whom?” she asked. 

Asuna looked almost offended by that statement.

“By me!” she said. “Who else?”

Nagi giggled a little at Asuna’s irritation and took another bite.

“You could totally make a killing off of these,” she said. “Then again, I kind of want them all to myself-”

Without missing a beat, Asuna kicked her foot over and hit Nagi’s boot, causing her to drop her sandwich on the ground. It burst apart into glass shards, and Nagi felt a sense of fleeting loss over the meal. She was tired of watching things shatter like glass. She snapped to attention. 

“That’s it,” she said.

Asuna frowned up at her.

“What’s it?” she asked. 

Nagi turned to her excitedly and put out both of her hands.

“Yolko and Kains aren’t dead,” she said. 

Asuna shook her head. 

“We checked the Monument,” she said. “We know Kains is dead.”

Nagi shook her head back.

“You friended Yolko back at the hotel the other day, I know you did,” she said. “Open your friend’s list right now. If she’s dead, she won’t appear there.”

Sighing, Asuna opened her menu. 

“I’m telling you, they’re…” Asuna started, but she trailed off. “She’s still there.”

Filled with more confidence, Nagi started walking away from the bench.

“Track Yolko’s location,” she said. “Here’s my plan…”

* * *

Riding on horseback was never something Nagi wanted to do in SAO. It was incredibly difficult to get the hang of, because it almost required one to have the skill in the real world before you could transfer it here. Nevertheless, the horse ride was the quickest way to get to where Yolko was. Because company was headed her way, and it wasn’t exactly friendly. 

Tracing back a few steps, Nagi had figured out the trick from watching the sandwich’s untimely end. Items in SAO gave off the same effect when they reached the end of their durability. It was the same effect seen when a player died. Her theory was then this: there was no death at all in a safe zone. It was never allowed through some loophole because it was all an illusion. Kains, whose name clearly wasn’t that, and Yolko had placed the weapons in themselves prior to pulling their stunts. When their armor’s durability hit zero, they teleported away, giving the effect of death in a safe zone. 

Thus, it was no surprise to Nagi when she arrived at the scene to find not just Yolko surrounded by Laughing Coffin members, but also Schmitt and a third person who she presumed had to be “Kains.” She could think about what was going on later. For now, the PK group had to be taken care of. She jumped off of the horse and landed between the LC members and Yolko’s group.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the Purple Swordswoman,” a dry voice said.

Nagi smirked. 

“As always, it’s such a displeasure to see you, PoH,” she said. “If I were you, I wouldn't stick around too much longer. I have quite the ambush party headed this way. It was my lucky day to be in Asuna’s good graces.”

PoH looked at his other guildmates and sighed. 

“I suppose we’ll have to play some other time, then,” he said. “But don’t worry; I’ll get to cross swords with you one of these days, Nagi.”

She gave the man a sour look as he and his friends hurried off, eager to not be caught by the ambush headed that way. Luckily for Nagi, they’d bought such a ridiculous lie. She probably couldn’t get Asuna to do anything of the sort. Turning around, she smiled over at Yolko.

“Nice to see you...alive,” she teased.

Yolko bowed. 

“I’m sorry for deceiving you,” she said. “We would have told you about this all when we were done.”

Nagi nodded her head in understanding.

“No need to explain,” she said. “Just happy to know you’re alright. Did you find out what you needed to? I reckon not…”

The three cocked their heads for a moment. Asuna came out of the woods, leading a man with glasses over to them at swordpoint. The three instantly recognized him. 

“Grimlock?” Schmitt said. 

Asuna nodded. 

“I’m sure by now you all know that Schmitt received a note to place a crystal somewhere,” she said. “But you should know why.”

She urged the man called Grimlock forward and nodded for him to explain. He explained from there. He’d arranged for Griselda to be killed by a PK group, which had placed the ring in his possession. But his intentions were never for the ring itself; he’d been a selfish man from the start. Griselda was his wife, and she’d been changed so much by her experiences in SAO. He’d hated her new confidence, and because of that, he’d arranged to kill her so that she wouldn’t change anymore. Asuna handed him over into Yolko and company’s hands to deal with him in their own way.

It left her and Asuna standing there alone. Asuna shook her head with apparent disgust as she thought about the answer. 

“Why would you kill your own lover?” she said. “You should love them no matter what. He just sounded like a possessive jerk.”

Nagi nodded. 

“Agreed,” she said. “If I had a wife and one day I found out she’d changed and become more confident, I’d feel super lucky.”

Asuna tilted her head. 

“Why’s that?” she asked. 

Nagi smiled.

“Because I’ve found more about her to love,” she said, grinning.

She patted Asuna on the back for a job well done. Asuna, confused, hurried after her, asking if she really meant that she wanted a wife or was just playing along with the scenario. Nagi kept her lips sealed for the time being. Now wasn’t the time to come out as a lesbian. She was still celebrating the safety of safe zones, after all. 


End file.
